Uluru

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[youtube=KEIJm5JOWeU]

Uluru gets an entry unto itself. There is nothing that can prepare you for this encounter or this climb. The natives encourage you not to climb the rock for several reasons. 1, because of how underestimatable the climb is. 2, because of the significance the climb has to their culture and 3, because 35 people have already died from climbing the rock. This number doesn't include people who died within a week of climbing the rock due to complications. It is a challenging experience that only mental preparation can help you accomplish. In order to make the climb, you have to let it all in. It really is a monolith, it's not just a big red rock.
If you are told the stories which the aboriginal people surround the rock with, you only hear the stories up to a certain level. With knowledge comes responsibility and with responsibility comes respect, a respect you must earn. As a tourist knowing nothing about their culture, you begin at the bottom, like their own children do. Their art and their digereedoos are the only thing that is marketable to them. Their way of life would be like selling friendship. Their beliefs are based around life lessons and explanations of the way their world operate and cooperates. I have a tremendous curiosity for their culture.

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Photos

pictural teachings
they don't have a written language. The only thing that is written is so supplement oral traditions

no ropes or railings
once up the side of the face, there are no ropes or railings to guide you to the center of the rock

a zoom in on the first leg
those little specks are people. parts were so steep that if you stopped, you started sliding down the rock face

9/21 people
9 out of 21 of us made it to the top